It must be a ‘
nightmare having me as a mum!’ As they tread the boards together for the very first time in a play broadcast live on TV, Dame Judi chats about her dear daughter Finty By Alison James and Gabrielle Donnelly he’s won ten BAFTAs, six Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors’ Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Oscar and a Tony Award. But Dame Judi Dench is currently experiencing one of the highlights of her illustrious career at a 251 seater, not-forprofit theatre in a converted hops warehouse in London’s Covent Garden. For it is here, at the Donmar Warehouse, that she’s appearing on stage with her only child, actress Finty Williams, for the very first time. Mother and daughter are appearing together in a play called The Vote, which is set in a fictitious polling station two hours before voting ends. The play is to be streamed live into British homes via TV channel More4 for the final 90 minutes before the polls close on
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election night – May 7– and Judi could not be happier about it. Speaking recently Dame Judi said: “I’m absolutely thrilled about it. We’re playing a mother and daughter in The Vote and it’s wonderful. We always hoped we would work together in the theatre one day.” While Judi (80) and Finty (42) have worked together on a couple of film and TV projects (Finty played one of Queen Victoria’s daughters in the 1997 movie Mrs Brown, and both Judi and Finty voiced characters in the televised children’s animation, Angelina Ballerina), treading the boards together is clearly something very special to Finty, too. She said recently how being in a play with her mum would be a dream come true. But Dame Judi recognises it could be daunting, too. “I’m a nightmare!” Judi jokes. “Yes, it probably is difficult for Finty, but I don’t like people comparing us. I want her to be herself. She’s not just my daughter, you know – she has a quality of her own and I want people to recognise that. “She didn’t always want to be an actor. When she was little she told Michael (Judi’s late husband, actor Michael Williams, who passed away in 2001) and me that the one thing she wanted to be was an ‘acrobatic nurse’, which we thought was quite wonderful, swinging up the wards on a trapeze and hanging upside down to take someone’s temperature – we thought she’d be a huge success at it!
“If you have a parent who is that successful and set them as a benchmark, then everything is going to be disappointing. But Mum gives me acting tips all the time – she’s quite clever about it.” Mother and daughter have always been very close. Their family motto is ‘When we are together, there is nothing we cannot achieve’, and it was a favourite saying of Michael’s. After Finty was born in September 1972, Judi seriously considered Together at last: Judi and giving up her career. Finty are delighted to be “I was prepared to give appearing in the same play up work altogether to see that she was safely in the But when she grew up a little bit, nest, but Michael said ‘Please don’t’ with both a father and a mother she recalls. “Fortunately, I managed in this business, I suppose it was to get work in the theatre when she inevitable that she’d want to join was tiny so I was going to the theatre it too. “When she was about 17, I when she was going to bed, then was playing Gertrude in Hamlet at later I did television when she was at the National and she was backstage school, and had the evenings off, so I because we were going to drive didn’t miss out on anything.” down to the country afterwards. For many years, Finty and her I did the scene in the closet where son, Sammy (17), lived with Judi at Hamlet confronts his mother, went her Surrey home. But they moved backstage to change costumes, back to London so Sammy could and then went out to do the rest study for his A-levels there. of the play. When I came back to “My mum is extraordinarily my dressing room, there she was, beautiful and if she wasn’t my wearing my dress from the closet mother, I’d want her to be my scene. I thought, ‘Here we go!’” best friend.” So how does Finty herself feel ✢ The Vote, also starring Catherine Tate about the inevitable comparisons between her mother and herself? and Timothy West, will be broadcast live “I don’t aspire to have her career, from the Donmar Theatre London on or to be as talented as her, because More4 from 8.30pm to 10pm on I’d feel like I was shooting myself election night, May 7. down in flames,” she says.
Finty and Michael join Judi to collect her DBE in1988
Did you know?
✢ Finty’s unusual Christian name was the result of Judi and her late husband Michael thinking the baby was going to be a boy. They had decided on Finn but changed that to Finty when their daughter was born. ✢ She was actually christened Tara Cressida Frances but has always been known as Finty.
Judi and Michael at the birth of Finty in1972 YOURS
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PICS: REX SHUTTERSTOCK, PRESS ASSOCIATION, CORBIS, GETTY IMAGES
❙ star chat ❙
❙ news milestone ❙
A day to r As the nation celebrates 70 years since Victory in Europe Day, will the Queen recall her memories of that special night? By Alison James t was a day the like of which Britain had never seen before and is unlikely to do so again. After six long, hard years of war, Victory in Europe had been proclaimed. Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared VE Day a public holiday and the population went wild with joy. Hastily-arranged street parties were held, church bells pealed and in London the all-singing, dancing, laughing, kissing crowds converged on Buckingham Palace demanding to see King George VI and ‘Good Old Winnie!’. From her position on the palace balcony (see picture top left), 19-year-old Princess Elizabeth, dressed in her brown, subaltern’s Auxiliary Transport Service uniform, gazed down at the mass of people – little imagining at that point that once night fell, she and her sister, Princess Margaret, would have been given permission by their parents to sneak out and join in the celebrations. ‘Poor darlings, they have had so little fun as yet,’ George VI later wrote in his journal. To mark the night the young princesses were let loose a new film is due to be released, called A Royal Night Out. Margaret, played by Bel Powley, is seen evading her guards after dancing at The Ritz and jumping on a bus. She is seen celebrating in the fountains at Trafalgar Square, while Elizabeth (Canadian-born actress Sarah
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Bel Powley and Sarah Gadon play the two princesses in a new film
Gadon) and a young airman search for her. But what really happened on that night? The film-makers describe the movie as ‘Cinderella in reverse’, exactly the words used by Margaret Rhodes, Elizabeth and Margaret’s cousin. Mrs Rhodes was in the Princesses’ party that night and wrote about it in her 2011 memoir, The Final Curtsey. She describes how Elizabeth pulled her peak cap down low to disguise her muchphotographed face. However a Grenadier Guard, also part of the group, took exception and refused to be seen in the company of an improperly dressed officer, however junior (and Royal). ‘My cousin didn’t want to break King’s Regulations, and so reluctantly she agreed to put her cap on correctly, hoping she wouldn’t be recognised,’ wrote Mrs Rhodes. ‘Miraculously, she got away with it. London had gone mad with joy; it was a riot of song and dance. We danced the Conga and the Hokey-Cokey, and at last fought our way back to the Palace, where there was a vast crowd packed to the
railings. We struggled to the front, joining in the yells of “We want the King; we want the Queen”. ‘I rather think an Equerry who was accompanying us got a message through to say that the princesses were outside, because before long the double doors leading onto the balcony were thrown open and the King and Queen came out, to be greeted by a rising crescendo of cheers to which Princess Elizabeth their daughters and the rest of us in the ATS,1945
❙ strap strap ❙
o remember!
‘Good Old Winnie’ addressed the crowds on VE Day
She will not attend the main events commemorating the formal end of the Second World War in Europe on May 8 itself in order to remain ‘one step removed’ from coalition talks that could follow the previous day’s General Election. We can’t help hoping that she uses the free time to go incognito again for the first time in 70 years, slip out to her nearest cinema, and see how her younger self is portrayed on the big screen on what was arguably one of the most memorable nights of her life! ✢ A Royal Night Out is on general release from May 15 but some cinemas are running advanced screenings on May 8. Contact your local cinema for more details.
contributed. It was a view of their parents that the princesses had never before experienced, and for all of us young people it was the grand finale to an unforgettable day. My cousins were having the time of their lives.’ In her own teenage journal of May 8, 1945, Princess Elizabeth wrote: ‘PM (Winston Churchill) announced unconditional surrender. Sixteen of us went out in the crowd, cheered parents up on the balcony. Up St J’s (St James’s Street), Piccadilly, great fun.’ The next night Elizabeth, her sister, cousin and friends did it all
over again. ‘Out in crowd again — Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Pall Mall, walked simply miles. Saw parents on balcony at 12.30am — ate, partied, bed 3am!’ There was another night out on VJ Day (August 15) when Elizabeth and company left the palace once more but the memory of VE night, her first night of freedom, must surely be the most vivid. On this May 8, the 70th anniversary of that night, the Queen will no doubt be at Windsor Castle before travelling up to London on May 10 for the Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.
Friday, May 8 VE Day will start with a remembrance service at The Cenotaph and a national two-minute silence at 3pm, marking the moment Winston Churchill broadcast his historic speech announcing the end of the war. In the evening, a chain of more than 100 beacons will be lit across the country. Saturday, May 9 At 11am, cathedrals across the country will be invited to ring their bells in celebration. Festivities will peak with a Forties-themed concert held on Horse Guards Parade on Saturday night, featuring a line-up of international recording artists, stars and celebrities. The show will be broadcast that evening on BBC1. Sunday, May 10 A service of thanksgiving will be held at Westminster Abbey, attended by veterans and their families, and members of the Royal Family. There’ll be a parade of current personnel and veterans from the Abbey along Whitehall, past the balcony of HM Treasury where Winston Churchill made his historic appearance on VE Day. The afternoon will see a flypast of current and historic aircraft from the Royal Air Force. St James’ Park will also be transported back to the Forties with a display of vehicles from the period. ✢ Turn to p66 for one woman’s memories of VE Day YOURS
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PICS: REX SHUTTERSTOCK; SCOPE FEATURES; CORBIS; PA PHOTOS
Official VE Day 70th Anniversary Celebrations take place from May 8-10
Style
A versatile look Swap sandals for kneehigh boots to get more wear from this flattering dress on cooler days.
notes
✢ Kathy wears: Blue dress, £6.99, 10-20, necklace, £6.99, both Lidl; shoes, £15, 3-8 Bhs TOP TO TOE:
£28.98
TOP TO
FASHION EDITOR’S CHOICE
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£56.9O9E: Layer up
These pretty pastel layers are perfect for those cooler spring days.
✢ Gill wears: Cardigan, £20, top, £22, both 10-20, Next; jeggings, £4.99, 10-20, Lidl; shoes, £10, 3-8, Bhs
Wise buys
Head-to-toe style
Looking smart and stylish doesn’t have to cost the earth. Here are six complete looks – from just £28! By Acting Fashion Editor, Jo Winch 36
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Nautical twist Horizontal stripes are a classic and stylish choice to mix with a denim skirt. TOP TO
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£45.9O9E:
In the detail TOE:
There’s no need to worry about wearing jewellery with this gorgeous embellished knit.
£47.99
O TOP T
TOE:
£63
✢ Gill wears: Embellished knit, £28, 10-20, Bhs; trousers, £20, 10-20, F&F at Tesco; shoes, £15, 3-8, Bhs
O TOP T
TOE:
£58
Flattering cut Cap-sleeve tops are a great choice for flattering your arms. ✢ Kathy wears: Stripe top, £14, 10-20, F&F at Tesco; vest top, £2.99, s-l, Lidl; trousers, £6, 8-20, George at Asda; pumps, £25, 3-8, M&S ✢ Gill wears: Green top £18, skirt, £25, both 10-20, shoes, £15, 3-8, all Bhs
STOCKISTS: Bhs 0844 507 5966 www.bhs.co.uk; F&F at Tesco 0800 505 555 www. tesco.com/clothing; George at Asda 0800 952 0101 www.asda.com; Lidl 0370 444 1234; M&S 0845 609 0200 www.marksand spencer.com; Next 0844 844 8000 www.next.co.uk. All details correct at time of going to press YOURS
PICS: ANGELA SPAIN; STYLIST: JO WINCH; HAIR AND MAKE-UP: OLIVIA FERRIER
TOP TO
✢ Kathy wears: Stripe knit, £5.99, 10-20, Lidl; denim skirt, £25, 10-20, M&S; shoes, £15, 3-8, Bhs
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Good to KNOW...
find love second time a
How to...
Get back into the ‘dating game’ with our expert gui Meet our experts Lisa Copeland is a dating coach and author of The Winning Dating Formula for Women Over 50. She writes about dating later in life at www.findaqualityman.com.
Vera Azuike works for the charity Family Lives, which advises on parenting and family issues. Visit www.familylives.org.uk or call the 24/7 support line on 0808 800 2222.
Once you’re ready, looking for a new relationship can be a wonderful way to get a spring back in your step
ating again after divorce or loss can be daunting, especially if you have family and grown-up children to think of too. Once you’re ready, looking for a new relationship can be a wonderful way to get a spring back in your step. And, who knows, if it’s what you want, you may find someone to share your life with.
D
Am I ready to date again? It’s important that you’re in the right frame of mind for a new partner. “Take time to heal from your past relationship so that you’re dating because you want to, rather than because you miss having someone in your life,” says Lisa. “If you find you’re unable to talk about your previous partner without getting upset or angry, you’re probably not ready yet.” Successful dating often relies on your confidence, too. If this is quite low, get your self-esteem back by doing things you love again. “Rediscover old hobbies or interests you had the last time you were single,” says Lisa. “This should give you a happy glow, which is always attractive.”
How do I meet someone new? “As you get older it can be hard to suss out who’s single, so start by looking on online dating sites where you know that, for the most part, everyone is available,” Lisa says. If you arrange a date with someone you met online, just remember to tell a friend where you’re going and ask them to call you later to check how you’re getting on. If you don’t fancy online dating, take up a new hobby, such as walking YOURS
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Your
“I never thought I would find
Story happiness again, but now I have”
around
ert guide
By Katharine Wootton
or pottery, where you can forge friendships with other members that could turn into something more.
How do I tell my family? “It’s best to be open with your family from the start,” says Vera. “Tell them you’re thinking of dating but aren’t sure where to begin. This way they can offer suggestions and feel more included.” Once you’ve met a new partner, be upfront with him about any anxieties you have about introducing him to your family. “Jot down all your feelings in a letter to each other and then work out how together you can resolve these worries,” says Vera. But don’t push to make them part of family life too soon. “Be sure the relationship is serious before you introduce them to your family,” says Lisa. “Tell grown-up children they can see your new partner as a friend, rather
Anne Pickering (59) didn’t think love would come back into her life after losing her husband two years ago. Then she met Graham on the Yours Dating website. “I felt really apprehensive about dating online, but I was so fed up of coming home from work with nothing to do most evenings. “So I signed up to Yours Dating and started talking to Graham straight away. He’d also lost his wife so he understood how I felt. We chatted about his caravan, as I often used to go caravanning with my late husband. Two weeks later we met for the first time and we’ve never looked back. “I told my grown-up children that I was dating Graham from the start but didn’t speak to my late husband’s family until later. I felt really guilty and got quite upset telling my late husband’s father, who was still grieving for his son. But he put his arms around me
and told me he was happy I was making a new life for myself. Graham’s love for me seems to have helped my children come to terms with the fact their dad is no longer here. “Graham also has two daughters who have been so lovely with me. We’ve made it work by agreeing with each other and telling our children that they will always come first in times of need. “I never thought I would get the happiness back I had in my first marriage but now I wake up each day with a grin from ear to ear.”
than a replacement parent.” If your previous partner passed away, you could also suggest making a special toast to them on a set day each year so your family know they won’t be forgotten.
HOW TO...
stand out from the crowd on Yours Dating love travelling, say where you like to travel to ✢ Steer clear of clichés ✢ Include a recent photo that’s ideally an action shot of you looking happy doing something you love
✢ To find out about signing up for Yours Dating, turn to page 74.
PICS: SHUTTERSTOCK, MASTERFILE
On the Yours Dating website, finding that special someone could be just a few clicks away. The first step, once you’ve signed up to yoursdating.co.uk, is to make an online profile. This is your chance to make a great first impression and attract the like-minded kind of person you’re looking for, so take time over it. To make the most of your profile: ✢ Be honest – if you find it hard to describe yourself, ask a friend to help ✢ Keep it short, sweet and upbeat – this leaves things for you to talk about later ✢ Be specific – instead of saying you
✢ NEXT ISSUE Re-start your career at 50-plus, and how to sell yourself to an employer YOURS
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You think you know…
Florida?
There’s much more than theme parks in the Sunshine State By Lizzy Dening
Blast off! Animal encounters Get close to some gentle giants in their natural habitat by snorkeling with manatees in the Crystal River. These amazingly tranquil creatures live in a group of around 100-150 in the Homosassa State Wildlife Park on Florida’s Nature Coast, and you can spend a leisurely session swimming beside them on a trip with Attraction
Tickets Direct. Included in the 12-hour trip is a narrated boat tour through the heart of manatee country, an airboat ride and swimming time, plus two meals and snorkeling gear hire. The best times to see them are between October and March. ✢ Bookable from the UK, adults £64, children £48. Call 0808 271 4453 or visit www. attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk
Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida, has a whole host of ways to see its residents. For the brave there’s the tree-top trek – an aerial adventure in the trees, with ziplines over alligator pools, or if you’re the active type, you can kayak past a herd of giraffe! There are plenty of animals to see, such as white rhinos, monkeys and jaguars. You can also go on a night hike, if you dare, or handle some of the animals – perfect for children. ✢ Adults $16.95, children $12.95. Call 321 254 9453 or visit www.brevardzoo.org
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Relive your childhood memories of a time when men walked on the moon by visiting the world-famous Kennedy Space Center. Based an hour outside Orlando, it offers a fascinating insight into space travel, including spaceflight simulators, IMAX films, moon rocks which you can touch, and tours of actual rocket launch areas. ✢ Bookable from the UK, adults from £31, children from £26. To book call 0808 271 4453 or visit www.attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk
Roll up, roll up… For the greatest show on earth! Take a trip to the Circus Museum, which houses stunning handcarved animal wagons and artifacts from the Ringling Bros’ original travelling show. Other exhibits trace the history of the big top, right up to today’s Cirque du Soleil (pictured). You can marvel over a tiny scale replica of the old circus in action, built over the course of 50 years. The Ringlings were an interesting family, and amassed an enormous collection of 14th-18th Century European artwork. The John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, on the same estate, is also worth a visit. ✢ Admission $25 adults, $5 children aged 6-plus. Call 941 359 5700 or visit www.ringling.org
Feeling fruity? Florida is famous for its citrus fruits, as the warm climate is perfect for them. You can tour various grapefruit or orange groves year-round by contacting the growers directly. Try Mixon Fruit Farms in Bradeton, where the kindly owners also look after injured wildlife who are cared for among the orange groves.
Take the train For a slice of movie magic, catch the beautiful Orange Blossom Cannonball train from Mount Dora or Tavares. Various steam train models are in service, including a wood-burning engine which features in films such as ’O Brother, Where Art Thou? and runs mostly on Saturdays. ✢ 352 742 7200 www. orangeblossomcannonball.com
✢ www.mixon.com/wildliferefuge.asp
And… relax If you want to escape the crowds and find your own quiet spot, head to the unspoilt beaches of the Gulf Coast. Fort de Sota, near St Pete’s, is a wildlifelover’s heaven. Here you can spot dolphins, or take a canoe ride through the mangroves. If you’ve got the grandchildren in tow, Tigertail Beach on Marco Island (pictured) is perfect. It’s a bit tucked away, has a playground and is bursting with gorgeous seashells.
Dining with a difference There are all sorts of quirky dinner experiences to be had across Florida. Broadway Palm, in South-West Florida, offers a dinner buffet with both matinee and evening performances of traditional plays and musicals. Would-be sleuths will want to head to Tampa for a night at the Detective Dinner Theater. An interactive murder mystery dinner, you’ll be given play money with which to ‘bribe’ the actors for more clues. Meanwhile the grandchildren will love the swashbuckling Pirate’s Dinner Adventure in Orlando, where you’ll dine next to a replica boat with plenty of live action. ✢ Broadway Palm ticket prices vary, 239 278 4422 www.broadwaypalm. com; Detective Dinner Theater tickets cost $52.50, www.detectivedinner. com; Pirate’s Dinner Adventure tickets cost $35 adults, $30 children, 800 866 2469 www.pirates dinneradventure.com
Where to stay for less Love Holidays offers various packages at a lower price point. We like the look of seven nights of self-catering accommodation at the Orlando Metropolitan Express, from May 15-22 for £538pp (flights included).
We’ve included local phone numbers to use in Florida, but if you want to Exchange rate at call from the UK just add 001 to the start of each number. International time of printing, rates will be higher. 0808 and 0800 numbers are bookable from the UK $1=£0.67 sterling.
PICS: ALAMY, REX FEATURES
✦ Call 0800 215 5900 or visit www.loveholidays.com
✢ NEXT ISSUE Discover the hidden gems of Eastern Europe YOURS
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mfrom y lessons life… Actress Honor Blackman, 89, talks about her passions and why she’ll never retire ✢ Politics is a big passion…
✢ Cherish every day
Though I don’t plan to stand on a soapbox at the General Election. I do find it interesting and I will be voting. I like writing angry letters occasionally too!
I still love acting. I know I’m supposed to be retired, but there are so many characters you can play, no matter what age you are. I get sent scripts, such as my new role as an eccentric mum in the sitcom You, Me & Them, and I want to take them on. Unlike other jobs, you can go on until Doomsday.
✢ Today’s actors have an easier life It’s simpler for them now than when I started for the simple reason that there are so many outlets. There wasn’t any TV when I first started. There was just the theatre and films. There may have been a lot of actors, but there weren’t enough outlets. Now there are thousands.
✢ A strong work ethic’s key It’s so important. You have to have discipline – especially in the theatre. You are up there exposed and if you 138
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As Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (left) and with the cast of1992 sitcom The Upper Hand
✢ My favourite role do make a booboo, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, who will see you. It’s a very good idea to know what you’re doing backwards, forwards and sideways. You must have the discipline of punctuality. When the curtain goes up, you need to be there and ready.
✢ My grandchildren are my raison d’etre They call me ‘Nonna’. The eldest is 11 and I don’t want them to grow up. They are so lovely when they are little. I can’t be very hands-on as they all live in Sussex and I live in London, but I see them regularly and we all have holidays together.
I know most people would expect me to say Goldfinger and The Avengers, but I think the character that I’m most proud of was when I was in A Little Night Music on tour. It was the most fabulous production and it was the right role, at the the right age and at the right point in my life. Everything was perfect.
WHO OR WHAT MADE YOU THE PERSON YOU ARE TODAY? This is hard to answer as I came from a non-theatrical family. I didn’t know you could earn money in the theatre. I had never even been to the theatre or a pantomime. When I went into acting it was a new world for all of us as a family. ✢ Honor Blackman stars in the brand-new series of You, Me & Them, on the Gold TV channel ✢ She was talking to Christine Smith
PICS: ALAMY, REX FEATURES, SHUTTERSTOCK, GETTY IMAGES
✢ It’s good to keep active
I do love living life to the full. I cherish every day. I have so many things to occupy my mind. Life doesn’t stop like ordinary work does, and I am very grateful for everything I’ve done. I honestly never thought when I started that I’d still be doing something I love – at least at this age. It’s ridiculous really!